9.  The applicant was born in 1974 and lives in Milan.
10.  The applicant, who entered Italy at some unspecified time between 1996 and 1999, held a residence permit issued for “family reasons” by the Bologna police authority (questura) on 29 December 2001. This permit was due to expire on 11 October 2002.
11.  On 9 October 2002 the applicant was arrested on suspicion of involvement in international terrorism (Article 270 bis of the Criminal Code), among other offences, and placed in pre-trial detention. He and five others were subsequently committed for trial in the Milan Assize Court.
12.  The applicant faced four charges. The first of these was conspiracy to commit acts of violence (including attacks with explosive devices) in States other than Italy with the aim of spreading terror. It was alleged that between December 2001 and September 2002 the applicant had been one of the organisers and leaders of the conspiracy, had laid down its ideological doctrine and given the necessary orders for its objectives to be met. The second charge concerned falsification “of a large number of documents such as passports, driving licences and residence permits”. The applicant was also accused of receiving stolen goods and of attempting to aid and abet the entry into Italian territory of an unknown number of aliens in breach of the immigration legislation.
13.  At his trial the prosecution called for the applicant to be sentenced to thirteen years’ imprisonment. The applicant’s lawyer asked the Assize Court to acquit his client of international terrorism and left determination of the other charges to the court’s discretion.
14.  In a judgment of 9 May 2005, the Milan Assize Court altered the legal classification of the first offence charged. It took the view that the acts of which he stood accused did not constitute international terrorism but criminal conspiracy. It sentenced the applicant to four years and six months’ imprisonment for that offence, and for the forgery and receiving offences. It acquitted the applicant of aiding and abetting clandestine immigration, ruling that the acts he stood accused of had not been committed.
15.  As a secondary penalty, the Assize Court banned the applicant from exercising public office for a period of five years and ordered that after serving his sentence he was to be deported.
16.  In the reasons for its judgment, which ran to 331 pages, the Assize Court observed that the evidence against the applicant included intercepts of telephone and radio communications, witness statements and numerous false documents that had been seized. Taken together, this evidence proved that the applicant had been engaged in a conspiracy to receive and falsify stolen documents, an activity from which he derived his means of subsistence. On the other hand, it had not been established that the documents in question had been used by the persons in whose names they had been falsely made out to enter Italian territory illegally.
17.  As regards the charge of international terrorism, the Assize Court firstly noted that a conspiracy was “terrorist” in nature where its aim was to commit violent acts against civilians or persons not actively participating in armed conflict with the intention of spreading terror or obliging a government or international organisation to perform or refrain from performing any act, or where the motive was political, ideological or religious in nature. In the present case it was not known whether the violent acts that the applicant and his accomplices were preparing to commit, according to the prosecution submissions, were to be part of an armed conflict or not.
18.  In addition, the evidence taken during the investigation and trial was not capable of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused had begun to put into practice their plan of committing acts of violence, or that they had provided logistical or financial support to other persons or organisations having terrorist aims. In particular, such evidence was not provided by the telephone and radio intercepts. These proved only that the applicant and his accomplices had links with persons and organisations belonging to Islamic fundamentalist circles, that they were hostile to “infidels” (and particularly those present in territories considered to be Muslim) and that their relational world was made up of “brothers” united by identical religious and ideological beliefs.
19.  Using coded language the defendants and their correspondents had repeatedly mentioned a “football match”, intended to strengthen their faith in God. For the Assize Court it was quite obvious that this was not a reference to some sporting event but to an action applying the principles of the most radical form of Islam. However, it had not been possible to ascertain what particular “action” was meant or where it was intended to take place.
20.  Moreover, the applicant had left Milan on 17 January 2002 and, after a stopover in Amsterdam, made his way to Iran, from where he had returned to Italy on 14 February 2002. He had also spoken of a “leader of the brothers” who was in Iran. Some members of the group to which the applicant belonged had travelled to “training camps” in Afghanistan and had procured weapons, explosives, and observation and video-recording equipment. In the applicant’s flat and those of his co-defendants, the police had seized propaganda about jihad – or holy war – on behalf of Islam. In addition, in telephone calls to members of his family in Tunisia made from the place where he was being detained in Italy, the applicant had referred to the “martyrdom” of his brother Fadhal Saadi; in other conversations he had mentioned his intention to take part in holy war.
21.  However, no further evidence capable of proving the existence and aim of a terrorist organisation had been found. In particular, there was no evidence that the applicant and his accomplices had decided to channel their fundamentalist faith into violent action covered by the definition of a terrorist act. Their desire to join a jihad and eliminate the enemies of Islam could very well be satisfied through acts of war in the context of an armed conflict, that is, acts not covered by the concept of “terrorism”. It had not been established whether the applicant’s brother had really died in a suicide bombing or whether that event had been the “football match” which the defendants had repeatedly referred to.
22.  The applicant and the prosecution appealed. The applicant asked to be acquitted of all the charges, while the prosecution wanted him to be convicted of international terrorism and aiding and abetting clandestine immigration as well.
23.  In the prosecution’s appeal it was submitted that, according to the case-law of the Court of Cassation, the constituent elements of the crime of international terrorism were made out even where no act of violence had occurred, the existence of a plan to commit such an act being sufficient. In addition, an action could be terrorist in nature even if it was intended to be carried out in the context of an armed conflict, provided that the perpetrators were not members of the “armed forces of a State” or an “insurrectionary group”. In the present case, it was apparent from the documents in the file that the applicant and his associates had procured for themselves and others false documents, weapons, explosives and money in order to commit violent acts intended to affirm the ideological values of fundamentalist Islam. In addition, the accused had maintained contacts with persons and organisations belonging to the sphere of international terrorism and had planned a violent and unlawful action, due to be carried out in October 2002 as part of a “holy war” and in a country other than Italy. Only the defendants’ arrest had prevented the plan from being implemented. Furthermore, at that time the armed conflict in Afghanistan had ended and the one in Iraq had not yet started.
24.  The prosecution further submitted that the applicant’s brother, Mr Fadhal Saadi, had been detained in Iran; the applicant had visited him there in either January or February 2002. After his release Mr Fadhal Saadi had settled in France and stayed in contact with the applicant. He had then died in a suicide bombing, a fact which was a source of pride for the applicant and the other members of his family. That was revealed by the content of the telephone conversations intercepted in the prison where the applicant was being held.
25.  Lastly, the prosecution requested leave to produce new evidence, namely letters and statements from a person suspected of terrorist activities and recordings transmitted by radio microphone from inside a mosque in Milan.
26.  On 13 March 2006 the Milan Assize Court of Appeal asked the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of Article 593 § 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. As amended by Law no. 46 of 20 February 2006, that provision permitted the defence and the prosecution to appeal against acquittals only where, after the close of the first-instance proceedings, new evidence had come to light or been discovered. The Assize Court of Appeal stayed the proceedings pending a ruling by the Constitutional Court.
27.  In judgment no. 26 of 6 February 2007, the Constitutional Court declared the relevant provisions of Italian law unconstitutional in that they did not allow the prosecution to appeal against all acquittals and because they provided that appeals lodged by the prosecuting authorities before the entry into force of Law no. 46 of 20 February 2006 were inadmissible. The Constitutional Court observed in particular that Law no. 46 did not maintain the fair balance that should exist in a criminal trial between the rights of the defence and those of the prosecution.
28.  The first hearing before the Milan Assize Court of Appeal was set down for 10 October 2007.
29.  In the meantime, on 11 May 2005, two days after delivery of the Milan Assize Court’s judgment, a military court in Tunis had sentenced the applicant in his absence to twenty years’ imprisonment for membership of a terrorist organisation operating abroad in time of peace and for incitement to terrorism. He was also deprived of his civil rights and made subject to administrative supervision for a period of five years. The applicant asserted that he had not learned of his conviction until its operative part was served on his father on 2 July 2005, when the judgment had already become final.
30.  The applicant alleged that his family and his lawyer were not able to obtain a copy of the judgment by which the applicant had been convicted by the Tunis military court. In a letter of 22 May 2007 to the President of Tunisia and the Tunisian Minister of Justice and Human Rights, his representatives before the Court asked to be sent a copy of the judgment in question. The result of their request is not known.
31.  On 4 August 2006, after being imprisoned uninterruptedly since 9 October 2002, the applicant was released.
32.  On 8 August 2006 the Minister of the Interior ordered him to be deported to Tunisia, applying the provisions of Legislative Decree no. 144 of 27 July 2005 (entitled “Urgent measures to combat international terrorism” and later converted to statute law in the form of Law no. 155 of 31 July 2005). He observed that “it was apparent from the documents in the file” that the applicant had played an “active role” in an organisation responsible for providing logistical and financial support to persons belonging to fundamentalist Islamist cells in Italy and abroad. Consequently, his conduct was disturbing public order and threatening national security.
33.  The Minister made it clear that the applicant could not return to Italy except on the basis of an ad hoc ministerial authorisation.
34.  The applicant was taken to a temporary holding centre (centro di permanenza temporanea) in Milan. On 11 August 2006 the deportation order was confirmed by the Milan justice of the peace.
35.  On 11 August 2006 the applicant requested political asylum. He alleged that he had been sentenced in his absence in Tunisia for political reasons and that he feared he would be subjected to torture and “political and religious reprisals”. By a decision of 16 August 2006, the Head of the Milan police authority (questore) declared the request inadmissible on the ground that the applicant was a danger to national security.
36.  On 6 September 2006 the Director of the non-governmental organisation World Organisation Against Torture (known by its French initials – OMCT) wrote to the Italian Prime Minister to tell him the OMCT was “extremely concerned” about the applicant’s situation, and that it feared that, if deported to Tunisia, he would be tried again for the same offences he stood accused of in Italy. The OMCT also pointed out that, under the terms of Article 3 of the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, “No State Party shall expel, return (‘refouler’) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture”.
37.  On 12 September 2006 the President of the non-governmental organisation Collective of the Tunisian Community in Europe appealed to the Italian government to “end its policy of mass deportation of Tunisian immigrants [who were] practising adherents of religious faiths”. He alleged that the Italian authorities were using inhuman methods and had grounded a number of decisions against Tunisians on their religious convictions. He went on to say that it was “obvious” that on arrival in Tunisia the persons concerned would be “tortured and sentenced to lengthy terms of imprisonment, on account of the fact that the Italian authorities falsely suspect them of terrorism”. The applicant’s name appeared in a list of persons at imminent risk of expulsion to Tunisia which was appended to the letter of 12 September 2006.
38.  The Chief Constable’s decision of 16 August 2006 (see paragraph 35 above) was served on the applicant on 14 September 2006. The applicant did not appeal. However, on 12 September 2006 he had produced documents, including the OMCT’s letter of 6 September 2006 and the reports on Tunisia by Amnesty International and the US Department of State, requesting that these be passed on to the local refugee status board. On 15 September 2006 the Milan police authority informed the applicant orally that as his asylum request had been refused the documents in question could not be taken into consideration.
39.  On 14 September 2006, pleading Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, the applicant asked the Court to suspend or annul the decision to deport him to Tunisia. On 15 September 2006 the Court decided to ask the Government to provide it with information, covering in particular the question whether the applicant’s conviction by the Tunis military court was final and also whether in Tunisian law there was a remedy whereby it was possible to obtain the reopening of proceedings or a retrial.
40.  The Government’s reply was received at the Registry on 2 October 2006. According to the Italian authorities, in the event of a conviction in the absence of the accused, Tunisian law gave the person convicted the right to have the proceedings reopened. The Government referred in particular to a fax of 29 September 2006 from the Italian ambassador in Tunis stating that, according to the information supplied by the Director of International Cooperation at the Tunisian Ministry of Justice, the applicant’s conviction was not final since a person convicted in his absence could appeal against the relevant judgment.
41.  On 5 October 2006 the Court decided to apply Rule 39. It asked the Government to stay the applicant’s expulsion until further notice.
42.  The maximum time allowed for the applicant’s detention with a view to expulsion expired on 7 October 2006 and he was released on that date. However, on 6 October 2006 a new deportation order had been issued against him. On 7 October 2006 this order was served on the applicant, who was then taken back to the Milan temporary holding centre. As the applicant had stated that he had entered Italy from France, the new deportation order named France as the receiving country, not Tunisia. On 10 October 2006 the new deportation order was confirmed by the Milan justice of the peace.
43.  On 3 November 2006 the applicant was released because fresh information indicated that it was impossible to deport him to France. On the same day the Milan Assize Court of Appeal ordered precautionary measures, to take effect immediately after the applicant’s release: he was forbidden to leave Italian territory and required to report to a police station on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
44.  In the meantime, on 27 September 2006, the applicant had applied for a residence permit. On 4 December 2006 the Milan police authority replied that this application could not be allowed. It was explained that a residence permit could be issued “in the interests of justice” only at the request of the judicial authorities, where the latter considered that the presence of an alien in Italy was necessary for the proper conduct of a criminal investigation. The applicant had in any case been forbidden to leave Italian territory and was therefore obliged to stay in Italy. Moreover, to obtain a residence permit it was necessary to produce a passport or similar document.
45.  Before the Court the applicant alleged that the Tunisian authorities had refused to renew his passport, so that all his further attempts to regularise his situation had come to nothing.
46.  On a date which has not been specified, the applicant also asked the Lombardy RAC (Regional Administrative Court) to set aside the deportation order of 6 October 2006 and stay its execution.
47.  In a decision of 9 November 2006, the Lombardy RAC held that there was no cause to rule on the application for a stay of execution and ordered the file to be transmitted to the Lazio RAC, which had the appropriate territorial jurisdiction.
48.  The Lombardy RAC pointed out among other observations that the European Court of Human Rights had already requested a stay of execution of the deportation order and had consequently provided redress for any prejudice the applicant might allege.
49.  According to the information supplied by the applicant on 29 May 2007, the proceedings in the Lazio RAC were still pending on that date.
50.  On 18 January 2007 the applicant sent a memorial to the Milan police authority pointing out that the European Court of Human Rights had requested a stay of execution of his deportation on account of a real risk that he would be subjected to treatment contrary to Article 3 of the Convention. He therefore asked for a hearing before the local refugee status board with a view to being granted political asylum. According to the information supplied by the applicant on 11 July 2007, there had been no reply to his memorial by that date. In a memorandum of 20 July 2007, the Italian Ministry of the Interior stated that the memorial of 18 January 2007 could not be regarded as a new asylum request or as an appeal against the refusal given by the Milan Chief Constable on 16 August 2006 (see paragraph 35 above).
51.  On 29 May 2007 the Italian embassy in Tunis sent a note verbale to the Tunisian government, requesting diplomatic assurances that if the applicant were to be deported to Tunisia he would not be subjected to treatment contrary to Article 3 of the Convention and would not suffer a flagrant denial of justice.
52.  The note in question, written in French, reads as follows:
“The Italian embassy presents its compliments to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and, following the meeting between the Italian ambassador Mr Arturo Olivieri and his Excellency the Minister of Justice and Human Rights Mr Béchir Tekkari, on the occasion of the visit of the Italian Minister of Justice Mr Clemente Mastella, on 28 May 2007, has the honour to request the invaluable cooperation of the Tunisian authorities in reaching a positive development in the following case.
The Tunisian national Nassim Saadi, born in Haidra (Tunisia) on 30 November 1974, was served with an order for his deportation from Italy, issued by the Ministry of the Interior on 8 August 2006.
After the above order had been issued, Mr Saadi lodged an application with the European Court of Human Rights on 14 September 2006, requesting and obtaining the decision to stay execution of the deportation order.
His application is based on the argument that, after he had been tried in his absence, he was sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment for terrorist-related offences, in a judgment given by the Tunis military court on 11 May 2005, served on Mr Saadi’s father on 2 July 2005. Because of his conviction, Mr Saadi contends that if the deportation order were to be enforced he would run the risk of being imprisoned in Tunisia on his arrival, on the basis of an unfair trial, and of being subjected to torture and inhuman and degrading treatment (please find enclosed a copy of the document by which the judgment was served supplied by Mr Saadi).
In order to gather all the information necessary to assess the case, the European Court of Human Rights has asked the Italian government to supply a copy of the judgment and wishes to ascertain whether the Italian government intends, before deporting Mr Saadi, to seek diplomatic guarantees from the Tunisian government.
In the light of the foregoing, the Italian embassy, counting on the sensitivity of the Tunisian authorities on the question, has the honour to formulate, subject to the judicial prerogatives of the Tunisian State, the following urgent request for guarantees, as an indispensable formal prerequisite for the solution of the case now pending:
–  if the information given by Mr Saadi concerning the existence of a judgment of 11 May 2005 in which he was found guilty by the Tunis military court corresponds to the truth, please send a full copy of the judgment in question (before 11 July 2007, the date of the hearing before the Court) and confirm that he has the right to appeal, and to be judged by an independent and impartial tribunal, in accordance with a procedure which, taken as a whole, complies with the principles of a fair and public trial;
–  please give assurances that the fears expressed by Mr Saadi of being subjected to torture and inhuman and degrading treatment on his return to Tunisia are unfounded;
–  please give assurances that if he were to be committed to prison he would be able to receive visits from his lawyers and members of his family.
In addition, the Italian embassy would be grateful if the Tunisian authorities would keep it informed of the conditions of Mr Saadi’s detention if he were to be committed to prison.
The way this case is determined will have significant implications for future security policy.
The information mentioned above, which the European Court of Human Rights has requested from the Italian government, are indispensable if the deportation is to go ahead.
To a certain extent, this case forms a precedent (in relation to numerous other pending cases) and – we are convinced – a positive response by the Tunisian authorities will make it easier to carry out further expulsions in future.
While perfectly aware of the delicate nature of the subject, the Italian embassy counts on the understanding of the Tunisian authorities, hoping that their reply will be in the spirit of effective action against terrorism, as part of the friendly relations between our two countries.”
53.  The Italian government observed that such assurances had never before been requested from the Tunisian authorities.
54.  On 4 July 2007 the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a note verbale to the Italian embassy in Tunis. Its content was as follows:
“The Minister for Foreign Affairs presents his compliments to the Italian ambassador in Tunis and, referring to the ambassador’s note verbale no. 2533 of 2 July 2007 concerning Nassim Saadi, currently imprisoned in Italy, has the honour to inform the ambassador that the Tunisian government confirms that it is prepared to accept the transfer to Tunisia of Tunisians imprisoned abroad once their identity has been confirmed, in strict conformity with the national legislation in force and under the sole safeguard of the relevant Tunisian statutes.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs would like once again to convey to the Italian ambassador in Tunis his sincere regards.”
55.  A second note verbale, dated 10 July 2007, was worded as follows:
“The Minister for Foreign Affairs presents his compliments to the Italian ambassador in Tunis and, referring to his note verbale no. 2588 of 5 July 2007, has the honour to confirm to him the content of the Ministry’s note verbale no. 511 of 4 July 2007.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs hereby confirms that the Tunisian laws in force guarantee and protect the rights of prisoners in Tunisia and secure to them the right to a fair trial. The Minister would point out that Tunisia has voluntarily acceded to the relevant international treaties and conventions.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs would like once again to convey to the Italian ambassador in Tunis his sincere regards.”
56.  According to the applicant, in Italy he lives with an Italian national, Mrs V., whom he married in a Muslim marriage ceremony. They have an eight-year-old child (born on 22 July 1999), an Italian national, who attends school in Italy. Mrs V. is unemployed and is not at present in receipt of any family allowance. She suffers from a type of ischaemia.
57.  According to a memorandum of 10 July 2007 from the Ministry of the Interior, on 10 February 2007 the applicant married, in a Muslim marriage ceremony, a second wife, Mrs G. While officially resident in via Cefalonia, Milan, at the address occupied by Mrs V., the applicant is said to be separated de facto from both his wives. Since the end of 2006 he has been habitually resident in via Ulisse Dini, Milan, in a flat which he apparently shares with other Tunisians.